“Cloud computing” refers to the use of remotely hosted resources to provide services to customers over one or more networks such as the Internet. Resources made available to customers are typically virtualized and dynamically scalable. Cloud computing services may include providing applications, application services, storage, storage services, data protection services, and so forth. Cloud computing services may be provided to customers through client software such as a Web browser (e.g., Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, or Apple Safari).
The software and data used to support cloud computing services may be located on remote servers owned by a cloud computing service provider. In some cases, customers consuming services offered through a cloud computing platform do not own the physical infrastructure hosting the actual service, and may accordingly avoid capital expenditure on hardware systems by paying only for the service resources they use, a subscription fee, or both. In other cases, customers may own and operate their own cloud computing network, but may have a desire to access another cloud computing network (e.g., public cloud) for additional resources such as in a hybrid cloud configuration.
From a service provider's standpoint, the sharing of computing resources across multiple customers or “tenants” improves resource utilization. Use of the cloud computing service model has been growing due to the increasing availability of high bandwidth communication, making it possible to obtain response times from remotely hosted cloud-based services similar to those of services that are locally hosted.
The growth in cloud computing has been accompanied by a growth in the number of different storage services that are available. Such storage services may include file stores, databases, and object stores, among others. Some storage may be better suited than other storage depending upon factors such as the type of data to be stored, budget, needs, and so forth. Regardless of what storage type a customer chooses, it can be desirable to provide redundancy. For example, it may be desirable to have two simultaneous instances of a business critical application running in two different locations. This allows the business to continue operations uninterrupted even if one of the locations should fail. However, because of the different types of storage services available, there is a need for improved systems and techniques to ensure replication of the same storage type across cloud computing sites.
The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions. EMC, Data Domain, Data Domain Restorer, and Data Domain Boost are trademarks of EMC Corporation.